Page 24 of Seven Swans a Swimming

Arabella almost laughed. Did her ladyship really expect her to believe she packed her own trunk?

“Come on, Cartier,” Lady Cartier said briskly. “Off we go, let us leave the young people in peace. Until tomorrow, Miss Fitzroy. Nathaniel—be good.”

The two of them had disappeared from the room so quickly that Arabella could not think of anything to say to halt them. It appeared that her long afternoon, evening, and night with Nathaniel had already begun.

Nathaniel sighed and pushed back his empty plate. “Well, I would not have expected this from my mother, I have to say.”

Arabella smiled weakly. “She is not always placing you in uncomfortable positions?”

“Are you uncomfortable?”

What was she supposed to say? Arabella tried to collect her senses, now she and Nathaniel were alone together. She could at least be a little more direct, a little more honest than she might have been if his parents were in the room—or God forbid, her own.

Besides, had he not been honest with her? By the lake, when he had spoken of his hopes and dreams for a spouse. Had not Nathaniel revealed himself to be a romantic. A gentleman, in short, who was not disappointed with the result of the arranged matrimony itself, but the fact that the choice had been removed from him?

“Nathaniel,” Arabella started softly. “Do you like me at all?”

It was clear he had not expected the question. Nathaniel’s eyebrows shot up, and he opened his mouth twice without saying anything before he coughed and cleared his throat.

“What a direct young lady you are.”

“Well, I think it only a fair question to ask at this point,” Arabella said, forcing herself to be bold.

It was unlike her to speak so directly. True, she often wished to, and sometimes Arabella wished she could give in to that desire more often. This was far more her cousin Joy’s approach to life, and Arabella knew she had it in her, if only she could release it.

But she was swiftly running out of options. Christmas Eve was tomorrow, and by Boxing Day, she would be returning in the carriage to London, to wait for her family’s return from Chalcroft.

That left her three days. Three days to discover whether this arranged marriage was a complete mistake or something that, eventually, could be made to work.

“I have been here four days,” Arabella persisted, speaking into the silence. “More than half my visit, Nathaniel, more than many people share in their courtship.”

He snorted at that. “I would hardly call this a courtship.”

“And whose fault is that?” Arabella said a little more sharply than she had intended.

Oh, the last thing she needed to do right now was offend him!

But thankfully, her boldness appeared to have endeared herself to him. At least, from what Arabella could see, Nathaniel smiled and settled himself a little more easily in his chair.

“That is true,” he said quietly.

Heartened by his words, Arabella continued, “What many people share before engagement, or even marriage, could be as little as a few dances, a conversation at a card table, a walk in the park.”

“You are a London girl.”

She chuckled. “Yes. But you see my point. Many matches are made, good matches, which become happy marriages, without hours of conversation. Hours of conversation we could have shared during my visit here, but you have been far more interested in—in disappearing, and avoiding me, and not giving me…not givingthisa chance.”

Arabella drew breath at the end of her long speech and wondered whether she had gone too far. It was a rather bold pronouncement, but something in Nathaniel drew that from her. He made her want to be bolder, to be more direct. To speak directly of what she wanted.

“And yet instead…” he said quietly.

Arabella sighed. “We have shared…what? Perhaps one pleasant conversation and one…one kiss.”

A wry smile tugged at Nathaniel’s mouth. “You did not like my kiss?”

Arabella’s cheeks flushed scarlet. “What makes you say that?”

“Well, you describe the conversation as pleasant, but you give no descriptor of the kiss at all,” he said in a teasing voice. Arabella could not tell whether this was his idea of flirtation or whether she was just being mocked. “You do not have any feedback for me? A scientist must collect data, you know.”

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